Oct 14
Survival & evolution in environments: case study of butterfly changes
Understanding how organisms respond to novel environments is important for predicting how populations will adjust to anthropogenic environments. We study how plastic developmental responses interact with population level evolutionary change in novel environments. Here I review several recent studies using butterflies as a system to address these questions with respect to dietary variation. First, we tested whether plastic or genetic variation in generalized stress responses such as antioxidant pathways underlie variation in the ability to deal with novel toxins. Second, we investigated how signaling and sexual selection dynamics shift in the face of anthropogenic increases in nutrition. Finally, I discuss current work investigating responses of pollinators to nutritional conditions of roadside plants. Together these studies illustrate how plasticity and standing genetic variation may result in robust population responses to environmental change.
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